SANA’A (Reuters/Xinhua) – The head of Yemen’s Ansarullah Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, says that the country is not against extending a UN-brokered truce with the Saudi-led militants and mercenaries, despite describing it as “not encouraging enough”.
The two-month nationwide truce between a Saudi-led coalition and the Yemeni forces, the first since 2016, went into effect on April 2 and has largely held.
The United Nations is now seeking an extension to pave the way for inclusive political negotiations to end a seven-year Saudi-led war that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
“We affirm that we are not against the extension of the truce, but what is not possible is accepting any truce in which the suffering of our people continues,” Mashat said in a speech carried by Al Masirah TV.
“I call for a genuine and encouraging cooperation that leads to improving the humanitarian and economic benefits of any upcoming truce,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ansarullah said they it sent a delegation to Jordan’s capital Amman on Sunday to attend a UN-sponsored negotiation over lifting the siege on Taiz city as part of the ongoing truce.
The delegation left the capital of Sana’a via a UN plane, al-Masirah TV reported.
Taiz has been under siege since the Saudi-backed war erupted in 2015. Lifting the blockade on Taiz would facilitate the movement of citizens and allow humanitarian aid access.
Lifting the siege is the last major term to be fulfilled pursuant to the agreement reached by parties fighting in Yemen’s war.
The warring parties also agreed to resume commercial flights to and from the Sana’a airport and allow the entry of fuel ships into the port of Hudaydah, which both have seen breakthroughs in the last weeks.